CONFESSION
50to farmers and eventually achieve a per-
fection in which all inequalities between
persons are overcome. Despite his extra-
ordinary optimism, his early hope in
the French revolution was not justified:
he was arrested and condemned to death,
but died while in prison. His works
include Essay on the Application of Analy-
sis to the Probability of Majority Decisions
(1785), Life of Turgot (1786), Life of
Vo l t a i r e (1787), and Sketch for a Historical
Picture of the Process of the Human Mind
(1794).
CONFESSION. The acknowledgment
of sin or guilt. The New Testament com-
mands confession: “confess your sins to
one another, that you may be healed”
(James 5:16). Some religions (Christianity
and Buddhism, for example) have rites
of public confession and promote the
practice of self-examination as a prelude
to confession.
CONFUCIANISM / CONFUCIUS
(a.k.a. K’ung fu-tzu) (551–479 BCE).
Confucianism is a social and political
philosophy originating in China that
has also profoundly shaped Japan, Korea,
and Vietnam. It takes its name from Con-
fucius, the Latinized form of Kong Fuzi
(“Master Kong”), the most important fig-
ure in East Asian intellectual history.
Confucius was born during the Spring
and Autumn Period, when China was
politically divided and the Zhou dynasty
was in decline. His disciples compiled
his teachings in the Lunyu or Analects.
Confucius taught that social and political
order depended on individual self-
cultivation, behavior regulated by li or
ritual, and a hierarchical social order
based on age, gender, and status. Through
self-cultivation one develops the virtues
of humaneness, righteousness, propriety,
and wisdom, manifested in li. Li originally
referred to religious behavior—proper
ceremony and rites—but came to refer
to ritualized behavior between people
according to their status. Li, for example,
reinforced the proper relationship in the
five bonds between ruler and subject,
father and son, husband and wife, elder
brother and younger brother, and friend
and friend. Li was intended to inculcate
the proper attitudes of loyalty and obedi-
ence toward superiors and benevolence
toward inferiors.
Although Confucius assumed a ruler
would inherit his position from his
father, a ruler’s legitimacy depended on
his ruling morally. The purpose of gov-
ernment is to promote the subjects’ wel-
fare, and a ruler is expected to serve as
a moral exemplar for his subjects. His
rule is ultimately entrusted to him by a
mandate from Heaven (tian), a transcen-
dent moral order.
Confucianism was further developed
by Mencius (c. 372–289 BCE) and later
generations, and it was adopted by the
Han dynasty (206 BCE–220 CE). The
commentaries of Zhu Xi (1130–1200 CE)
on the classical Confucian canon became